by Maya Banks
brightened her, like sunlight in winter, warm and welcome and necessary.
She clutched his shoulders, head thrown back, as his palms slid down her spine, making her shiver. His hands pressed tight, following the indention of her waist, flaring with the curve of her hips. He pulled her so close, there wasn’t a breath of air between.
This was her friend. Her best friend. Before, she’d looked at him and seen her sounding board, her rock, her hand to hold. Now she saw all man. A passionate lover. She burned and arched into him, as he nuzzled her neck, making her tremble.
“God, you feel so perfect,” he whispered.
So did he.
He captured her lips again, sinking ever deeper into her mouth. Kelsey pushed her fingers through his thick hair, moaning, losing herself in everything that made him the Tucker she’d always known . . . yet revealed a man she’d never seen. God, how badly she wanted him.
As if he read her desire, he picked her up, cradling her against his chest, and smothered her protest that she was too heavy with a fierce kiss.
Moments later, he eased down to the sofa and sat, positioning Kelsey across his lap. As she straddled his hips, their lips melded, tongues mated. His tight grip crushed her breasts against his chest. His woodsy scent rose up again, driving her mad. Then she became aware of the thick heat of his erection pressing against her sensitive, swollen sex.
She moaned into Tucker’s mouth, falling heart first into heady desire. In that instant, she pictured them naked, panting together as he buried himself inside her, those big, creative hands guiding her hips down to take him deep.
The very thought made her sex clench hungrily.
He swept his palms up the bare skin of her back and unclasped her bra. It fell down her arms, and he flung it away. Goose pimples rose all over her flesh. Her nipples tightened under his gaze.
“You’re so pretty and soft, honey.” He cradled her breast in his palm, thumbing her nipple with teasing brushes. “Do you know the number of times I’ve fantasized about how you’d feel? So damn many.”
“Oh ... Tucker,” she gasped.
“Hmm, you’re so . . .” He gently pinched the sensitive tips of her breasts. “Perfect.”
Her flesh sizzled. Friendship turned to fire and burned in her blood.
“Kelsey, honey, I want you so bad. Tell me you want this too . . .”
His whisper cascaded over her, warm with caring, passion. How could she ever say she didn’t want him? Impossible.
“I do. Don’t stop,” she gasped, then laid her lips over his and sank into his kiss. “Please . . .”
His blue eyes blazed at her, even as he stroked her hair with tender hands. “I’m going to take such good care of you.”
Kelsey bit her lip against a rush of need. “Then love me.”
“Always have.”
His answer made her even more certain that tonight was right. “C-can I touch you?”
Tucker moaned. “Anywhere you want, honey. Anytime you want.”
Smiling, she scooted back onto his thighs and whisked a finger down the hard ridges of his abs. He rippled wherever she touched. She smiled—and did it again, this time going lower and running a finger over his jeans, down the length of his cock. And down, and down, and . . .
“Oh my God,” she blurted, blinking at him. “Seriously?”
He repressed a smile. “I won’t hurt you, Kels.”
“Not on purpose, no. But that’s way beyond average.”
“You’re good for a guy’s ego.” He laughed.
“You can’t tell me you’ve never heard that before.”
“I have,” he admitted, then rubbed a hand down his face. “Could we not talk about other people right now? I’m trying really hard to focus on just us.”
And not think about the fact she had recently had sex with Rhys and Jeremy and loved them. Good call.
At least she had a thousand gorgeous sights to distract her. Golden, bulging shoulders rife with leashed power. Tucker was usually really relaxed. Now, she could see the tense set of shoulders, the flexing of his arms as he gripped her, realized he was holding her a bit too tightly, then releasing her . . . only to repeat the process. His pectorals, firm and ridged, not man-boobs as she’d heard them called. Just the natural state of a male body well versed in physical activity. His abdominals, even his obliques—muscles she knew only because she’d tried a million exercise videos and classes—were more defined than something in a dictionary.
He’d won the testosterone lottery.
But her pull to Tucker wasn’t his physical beauty; it was that she knew—and loved—him, all the way to his soul.
Running her hands down his torso, she met his gaze. “You’re gorgeous.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m a guy. We sweat, forget to cut our hair, think WWE is quality entertainment—”
“You’re thoughtful. You’ve never forgotten a birthday. You called faithfully, even when I was away at college. You criticized my bad decisions in the most diplomatic ways possible. You never let me cry alone.” At that, tears started again, rolling down her face. Tucker was a treasure, and she had to make sure he knew she was grateful for him. “How did I look for love for years and not see you right in front of me?”
He wrapped her in his arms. “Honey, we’ve both made mistakes. Yesterday isn’t important; we can’t change it. Tomorrow we’ll face together. Right now, we have to embrace the moment and make the most of it.”
The man was so right, as usual. Wise in a way she needed. And she loved that about him.
Throwing her arms around his neck, she covered his lips with her own and crashed inside, greedy for more of his taste, for the comfort and passion of his embrace. He held back, let her lead, followed her tempo, pressure, duration. But she sensed him holding back.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m trying to control myself. What I feel, Kels, it’s ...” He scrubbed a hand across his face, then sighed. “It’s a wildfire. I don’t know how much longer I can contain it.”
He wanted her that much? Inside, she was doing one hell of a happy dance.
“Then don’t.”
Tucker paused. “I want our first time to be gentle. I want you to know that I love you, that I won’t hurt you.”
“I want it to be what you need it to be. I trust you.”
His breath blew out in a rush. “You’re throwing kindling on an inferno.”
Kelsey leaned in, nipped at his ear with her teeth, then whispered, “Let it burn.”
She didn’t get to take even half a breath before Tucker took her mouth, invading, plundering—owning. Passion sizzled in every second of that kiss, and she felt it all the way to her soul.
His mouth was still on hers when she realized she was dizzy and wet and aching. Goody. A few times she’d wondered if the fantasy of Tucker was better left to her imagination, if kissing him would be like kissing her brother. That was so not the case.
Seconds later, he devoured her mouth again and seized her breasts in hot, calloused hands. His thumbs strummed the beaded peaks, sending a fresh wave of tingles across her skin.
Then he bent his mouth to her and sucked one.
Her senses rocketed, jackknifed. Pleasure burned in her belly. God, she was getting wetter by the second.
Tucker gently scraped her nipple with his teeth. She cried out, arched to him, before he moved to the other and repeated the process. Then he did it again. And again. Kelsey clawed at his shoulders . . . then realized it would be far more productive to rip his pants off. Whatever it took to get him closer, deep.
Thankfully, Tucker had similar ideas.
As she attacked the button and zipper of his jeans, he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her shorts and pulled them over her hips, down her legs, until they were an afterthought on the floor.
“Oh, damn, honey.” His gaze blistered her with heat as his hands roamed from her waist, down her hips, over her bare thighs. “You’re killing me. Matching black pa
nties?”
“You know I like things to . . . coordinate.”
He caressed the curve of her hip again, hesitating over the little satin ties of her panties. “So damn sexy. And so gone.”
With a pronounced tug on one bow, then the other, the panties fell away from her body. He tugged the scraps out from under her and tucked them into his jeans.
“I need those back!”
“No.” He grinned. “You don’t.”
He was going to take them, like a trophy? They matched her bra, damn it. Those were fighting words.
Kelsey crossed her arms over her chest, intentionally plumping her breasts. His eyes bugged and glazed over.
“Then you don’t need your underwear, either.”
“I completely agree with that.”
And with her still straddling his lap, he bridged his thighs off the couch and whisked his pants down his hips. Kelsey wriggled away to assist, and soon all his clothing was on the cozy little throw rug—and she got her first look at Tucker naked.
Oh my God, so worth the wait.
But he was big, no denying.
With a tentative touch, Kelsey gripped his erection and squeezed. She did her best to encircle him, but her fingertips didn’t quite touch as she stroked up and down his long length.
Kelsey gulped.
Tucker groaned. “Damn, Kels, I’ve wanted your touch for so long.”
He thrust into her grip and shuddered. As he groaned in her ear, Kelsey felt every bit of his passion, and it aroused her more. Tucker was big and far more experienced, but at the moment, he was completely with her. He wanted her. He loved her.
The thought gave her confidence and warmed her at once.
“As great as your touch is, that isn’t how I want you tonight. Lie with me.”
He reclined on the sofa, then fit his chest to her back, his erection prodding her buttocks and lower back. When he pillowed her head on his shoulder, she turned to look at him in question. He took her mouth in a drugging mating of lips and tongues.
A daze of need descended, and she only felt dizzier when his hands began to roam her body. He plumped her breast, toyed with her nipple, skimmed her abdomen . . . then delved between her legs and caressed her clit.
Though they weren’t facing each other, he could discern every time she tensed or caught her breath. He’d feel her skin heat against his. The position was lip-bitingly intimate.
About ten seconds later, she knew her best friend was going to give her a killer orgasm. She sucked in a harsh breath.
Tucker lifted his head, panted against her neck. Shivers raced through her. He drove her higher . . . higher as he worked the slick bundle of nerves under his fingers. Sensations climbed, quickly and mercilessly.
“The way you tremble in my arms is killing my self-control, honey. Your whole body is blushing pink. You’re swelling to my touch.” He cupped her sex. “Damn.”
Orgasm was about to steal away her sanity. Tucker knew her so well that, without ever having touched her, he knew her body.
“Yes,” she whimpered, nearly begging.
He grabbed her thigh and placed it behind her, over his own, opening her sex to him. Then he plunged his fingers deep.
Kelsey clawed at the sofa as the tension ramped up higher. He teased her with his fingertips, rubbing at her most sensitive spot. She arched to get closer to the touch.
“Are you ready?”
Frantically, she nodded. “Now, please ...”
Her orgasm burned right under his fingers. He rubbed insistent, lazy circles around her clit, eased off her G-spot. With a keening cry, she shook her head. “Tucker!”
“Let me build it, Kels. Let me make it really good.”
She wanted to tell him that it already was, but impossibly, the pleasure grew, firing through her body, holding her captive as she burned. She dug her nails into his forearms and clung like it was her only grip on reality.
“You look so hot, all glowing and wet.”
Kelsey had the passing thought that she was happy Tucker liked what he saw, but . . . “Damn it. I need you now!”
“Burn, honey? Ache?”
She nodded desperately.
“Yeah, that’s how I feel for you. Sometimes, I only have to be in the same room with you for a handful of minutes and I’m dying.”
Even now, she could feel his erection against her backside, the base nestled between her cheeks as he gyrated into her in time to his caresses.
A sheen of sweat broke across her skin as they moved together, her pleasure burning like a fever.
“As soon as you come, honey,” Tucker whispered gruffly in her ear, “I’m going to work inside you, feel all those sweet little after-pulses before I drive you up again.”
One thing about Tucker: He was as good as his word. She groaned, the need for release, to feel him so deep inside her, breaking her down to a pleading mass.
The ache between her legs tightened until it nearly became pain. His fingers toyed with her, just above her clit, around it, under it, awakening every nerve between her legs. She panted, clawed, aware that he balanced his head on his hand and watched her come undone. Kelsey feared how much her face revealed to him as she lost herself to pleasure, but he just smiled, his eyes burning blue fire.
Then he skimmed two fingertips right over her clit. The biting pleasure converged and exploded. She screamed his name and grabbed blindly for him, her body no longer her own. In that moment, she was completely his.
As the last of the liquid satisfaction wound through her body, Tucker rolled her to her back on the long sofa. “You’re gorgeous, Kels. I’ve wanted you forever.”
Automatically, she parted her thighs for him, and he settled in between, sliding the first few inches of his erection inside her.
“Hurry!” She barely breathed the word before she felt him slide deeper.
“Oh . . . Kels. God. I feel you pulsing all over me, honey.”
He looked nearly cross-eyed, and she smiled. “Good?”
Tucker sighed. “I’ve never felt anything better. Hold on to me. Getting all the way inside you may take some doing.”
An understatement. She’d had no idea that her best friend had been blessed with such amazing equipment. She knew he’d do his best not to hurt her, but she still tensed.
“You have to relax. I won’t be able to fit myself in if you don’t.
Tucker grasped her hips and tilted down to her. As he squeezed his way inside her one agonizing inch at a time, the friction scraped her sensitive flesh, and that quickly, her arousal was on the rise again. Though he moved gently inside her, easing in with caution, he stretched her mercilessly.
As he pushed farther inside her, she sucked in a shocked breath at the raw pleasure. Her eyes flew wide open. Every muscle taut, she stared straight into him. “Tucker ...”
He gritted his teeth. The jolt of connection was getting to him too. “Relax, honey.”
Kelsey forced herself to take a deep breath, funnel relaxation through her body as she exhaled once, twice.
Tucker slipped in another few inches. She moaned, a long, throaty growl.
“Damn, you’re so sexy.” He pushed another inch into her, infusing her body with another heavy deluge of desire. “Almost in . . .”
“Do it. Now.”
“I don’t want to hurt—”
“Do it!” she demanded, grabbing his face and pressing her mouth to his.
When she arched up, Tucker gripped her hips tighter, sank deeper into her, kissing her like a man possessed, all hint of gentle and friendly gone.
Teeth bared, he reared back, put his strength behind his body, and pushed all the way inside. She hissed in a shocked breath. Kelsey felt him deep, prodding the very end of her channel, stretching her with his girth until she burned and gasped.
She loved it.
“Oh hell ...” he muttered. “You’re incredible. Did that hurt?”
